SHANGHAI The fortunes of the richest 100 members in China's parliament and its advisory body grew about 64 per cent in the four years since its leader, Mr Xi Jinping, rose to power, data from an organisation tracking wealth in China showed.

Mr Xi has overseen a crackdown on corruption, and made the fight against poverty a priority after becoming president in 2013.

Since then, however, the wealth of the upper crust in the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference has grown faster than the wider economy, the stock market, home prices and wages, said the Hurun Report.

HURUN

This year, 209 delegates - about 4 per cent of the total - have been identified by Hurun as each being worth 2 billion yuan (S$410 million) or more.

The top 100 are worth a combined 3 trillion yuan this year, from 1.84 trillion yuan in 2013.

All of the super-rich in parliament or its advisory body are in business. Among them are Hong Kong businessman Victor Lee, Mr Pony Ma of Tencent Holdings and Mr Robin Li of Baidu.

Mr Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of Hurun, notes the companies represented by the wealthy lawmakers have had a big impact in terms of taxes and employment, and that having these stakeholders as government advisers "makes a lot sense". - REUTERS